First Week

At this time last week we were headed home from the birthing center with our SON!  November 6 was a whirlwind day.

I woke up to my alarm, set to get ready for an early morning at work but instead starting having contractions.  My doula arrived around 8 and by 9:30 we left for the birthing center, my husband saying Hail Marys the whole way up.  My 10:31 I was holding a baby, in shock that it was already over, given the munchkin had me in labor for a full day.  Then we decided to check the sex of the baby and were in even more shock to find out the sonographer was wrong back in July.  Fortunately my doula is expecting a son and lives a few minutes away from the birthing center so she lent us some clothes so the little guy didn't have to go home in a Daddy's Girl sleeper.  After skin to skin time, stitches, lunch, a fabulous herbal bath and multiple checking of the baby's vitals we were headed home, 5 hours after birth as expected.  I am so grateful that God answered my prayers for this delivery experience.  It has been so nice to recover at home.

I am loving being a hermit, watching Netflix that isn't Daniel Tiger (currently watching an Anthony Bourdain series), not wearing any makeup, and staying in pajamas all day.  My mom and husband have been wonderful help and big sister is adjusting really well and loves her baby brudder.  Friends and family have been super generous, buying and sharing TONS of clothes, bringing meals, and sending flowers.

Our little man is an easy baby, as long as he's fed he's happy, but once he decides he's hungry I've got about 2 seconds before he turns tomato red!  Nursing has been going well overall but I forgot how tiring it is to do it so frequently.  I'm taking advantage of the extra help to get a nap in during the day. My hubby and I are so much more relaxed this time around; taking care of someone so small really does come back to you like my friends said it would.  Continue to keep us in your prayers!

30 months and 30 weeks

The munchkin is officially 2 and a half today.  The way she acts and talks you'd think she's much older.  It's fascinating to watch her figure things out and convey what she's thinking.  She knows her colors, if she sees letters calls them "ABCs".  She'll occasionally count "123" and can identify a few shapes.  She loves going on bike rides with her daddy to the playground, coloring, reading books, and watching Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.  She's still in gymnastics once a week and other parents often comment on how strong she is and how well she can do the little routines (when she wants to follow directions).  She started Parent's Day Out this week and didn't even look back when we dropped her off.  We're really excited to see how much more she'll learn from being there, one that we're hoping for is potty training.  This summer ended up being so busy (I worked all of June, then we visited family most of July) that I couldn't get into a consistent routine, but even so, the interest isn't quite there yet.

Her little sister is 30 weeks along.  I found out I was pregnant 2 days before the munchkin's birthday and got her a Big Sister shirt to open as my way to announce it to her daddy. This pregnancy has been thankfully uneventful, but the first trimester was tougher than I remember it being before.  I wasn't working full time or chasing a toddler before so the nasuea and fatigue was especially rough.  We made the decision to deliver at a birthing center this time, so we're praying that this will be another smooth (and hopefully shorter!) labor without any complications that would require a hospital stay. The munchkin is excited about being a big sister and kisses my belly and talks to the baby.  We've been reading books and encouraging her to take good care of her baby dolls to try and prepare her. The office is now being taken over by baby stuff but we're so grateful for the generosity of friends and family to share things with us.  My co-workers have been great about making sure I don't push myself too much or carry heavy things.  The comments and questions from students are pretty cute, too.

We'll see if there's another post before the baby comes!

The Puppy Pawty

For the munchkin's second birthday party I decided on a puppy theme, because she loves all dogs (no, she did not get one as a present).  Like last year, I relied on Pinterest and people much more talented than me to put it all together.  

This was the banner on the front door, and we had a "Happy Birthday" sign over the food.

I used vases and some clearance tennis balls from Target and collars from Dollar Tree to decorate the tables.

Here is the cake!  My friend used a rectangular cake and cupcakes to turn it into a dog bone.  We even had enough pieces left over to make a little smash cake for her (which she didn't smash, just ate the icing).

My wonderful sister-in-law made the cupcakes.  She used Junior Mints for the big part of the paw print, which I thought was so clever!

The dessert table also had Puppy Chow, of course.

We grilled hotdogs with all the fixings, and had the fruit served in dog bowls.

These were the treat bags everyone took home.  Found dog bone shaped cookie cutters on Amazon and baked sugar cookies and included a couple of puppy stickers.

We were blessed with beautiful weather and had a great day celebrating with family and friends.  

Guess who's 2?

Our munchkin turned 2 a little over a week ago, so an update is in order about her.

Praise God first because she's healthy.  Still on the short side, wearing 18 month pants and onesies comfortably but her belly means she wears 24 months/2T shirts (which isn't the same size, I learned).  She's overall still a good eater but cheese, fruit, and ice cream are definitely her favorites.

What she likes-
Water!  She asks for baths all the time.  Every time we pass by a fountain she has to stop and put her hands in the water.  Then she touches the water to her forehead, like she's blessing herself before going into Mass.

Being outside.  We spend lots of time in the backyard and taking advantage of our Arboretum membership.  Lately she has been trying to look for bugs. She likes to ride on her new bicycle, can throw and kick a ball, and is doing better about drawing with the sidewalk chalk instead of eating it.

Climbing.  The kid has no fear at the playground, or at home.  She is loving gymnastics class and has become a very good jumper.

Babies.  Thanks to some friends who have had babies recently, she is getting lots of opportunities to hold them.  If we're out and she sees a stroller or bucket carseat, she has to go say hi to the baby.

Reading books.  Spot, Todd Parr's books, and the series that started with "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" are her current favorites.

Saying no.  Sometimes it's pleasant, other times it's very emphatic.

It's really neat to see her vocabulary expanding.  If you ask her what color something is, she'll almost always say it's blue, although she can say the names of the other colors.  She will identify two of something without being prompted and will say "ABC" as well.  She has her animals and the sounds they make down.

I am waiting until summer to tackle potty training, and as long as she doesn't try to climb out of her crib, we're keeping her in it (hope I didn't just jinx it).  She's definitely starting to assert her will but most of the time, distraction will keep us from a temper tantrum.  Everyone told us it would go by so fast and it really has.  Sometimes I look at her and am just amazed at how big she is.  We are grateful for every day we have with her.

A little ice never hurt anyone

Unless you've been living under a rock, or without power for the last 4 days, you heard that Dallas was victim to an ice storm.  I have thoroughly enjoyed being contained to my house and was fortunate that my hubby ended up being off work with me for all but a few hours Saturday afternoon.  Although he did have to ride home in the cold and rain Thursday night.  Check out his bike!

I spent most of Friday doing crafty projects to get ready for our Bible study Christmas party.  I found a link on Pinterest to this party mix.  Fortunately I bought all the ingredients last weekend, otherwise my friends would not have gotten anything nearly as yummy as a gift.

There was lots of laundry and cleaning done on Saturday, and the crockpot got plenty of use over the weekend.  My good friend's baby shower was scheduled for Sunday, and we made it happen!  I wasn't supposed it host it originally but it ended up that I did, and we had a fabulous turnout!  We did the traditional belly measuring game, advice for the new mom, and bingo while she opened gifts.  We even had a dear friend who couldn't fly in for the shower Facetime so she could still be part of the fun!

After those festivities we had our annual Edge Group Christmas party.  It amazes me how every year we always have new people.  We've got a couple members still in utero, one who was just born to LEBean, and our friend Bagels became a part of our community in the spring.  Some old friends have moved back to the metroplex after being overseas for 3 years, and it honestly doesn't even feel like they ever left.  The highlight of the evening for me was the munchkin and her toddler friends pushing each other around in the doll stroller.

Oh and one of our friends bought a donkey as the community gift.

Today has been a quieter day.  We all slept in, the munchkin sleeping the longest, and we ran a couple errands.  The roads were fine by the afternoon, but I'm grateful for the bonus day off with my little family.  Just another 9 days of work until Christmas break, two of which I'll be spending at a conference, and we're also celebrating our anniversary (twice!) and my brother-in-law's birthday, and going to a Christmas party.  Busy December!

Getting closer and closer to 2!

Little L is now 21 months old and she is all toddler!  We're learning that we need to make everything into a game, otherwise we have a very stubborn and strong munchkin to contend with.  But overall she is good natured and affectionate, but very active and curious.  We wouldn't have her any other way.

Finally putting away the 12 month pants, but she can already wear 24 months and 2T shirts, if we roll up the sleeves.  She recently had her 2nd hair cut, just a trim of her bangs, to keep the hair out of her eyes.  She is a good eater, especially if it involves fruit, cheese, or pasta.  She also is loving peanut butter and yogurt right now and her favorite treat is ice cream. (She calls it ice!)

It's tougher to get outside since it gets dark earlier but Scott still takes her to the playground on his days off and I try to take her on the weekends at least once.  She loves her gymnastics class and practices at home by climbing on everything and jumping in her crib.  We read lots of books, currently Todd Parr, Eric Carle, and Spot are her favorite, and she likes to push her stroller (sometimes empty) around the house.  We let her watch a little tv, the show Taratabong everyday.

Her talking is really taking off.  She's great with her animal noises and can recognize a couple colors too. She will say "bless you", "thank you" and "excuse me" at the right time and loves saying "Hi!" to people when we're out running errands.  She has a name for herself, it comes out sounding like "Sha sha".  She's starting talking to Grandpa and Grandma on the phone and with Skype, which always makes their day.

We're looking forward to her second Christmas in a couple weeks!

The Sprinkle

My Bible study (Edge group for those who know what that means) put on a "sprinkle" for one of our dear friends having her second, a boy, next month.  Once again, I let the people who are much more talented that me put everything together to make it beautiful and fun and I provide a clean house and nice platters to place all the food on!  The theme was alligators.

One of the girls came up with a cute game.  The mom-to-be loves See's Chocolate, so my friend created a gator out of the box.  She took pieces of candy out of the box and put them in baggies with questions about her pregnancy.  To get the chocolate back, she had to answer the question.  She had a few "Pregnancy Cards" she could play if there was a question she didn't want to answer.

It was a great afternoon celebrating The Bean and her little boy on the way!